California lawmakers are considering a bill (SB 304) that would strip the Medical Board of California’s ability to investigate alleged physician wrongdoing and impose penalties. Instead, the Attorney General’s Office would be responsible for investigating physician misconduct and the Medical Board would deal primarily with licensing issues for doctors. This would have a significant impact on the management of physician complaints in California.

Lawmakers introduced this bill in response to recent attention in the media concerning certain physicians’ prescribing of narcotic pain killers. One thing is fairly certain whether the bill passes or not: the Medical Board of California will ramp up its enforcement efforts.